Teacher's Pet
by Moxie2
Summary: Roxie is endanger of losing her scholarship, but everything seems to get better when she's given an offer from the Professor of the failing class. Roxie:Miles
1. The Offer

Sabrina: Teacher's Pet

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story are mine. I am left my little fantasies of what would happen to these characters.

Author's Note: Roxy's pretty weak in this one and is set around "Lost at C". Zelda did go out with Professor Arthur Carlin but Sabrina never got that A.

She skewed the eyes her eyes under the light of the dim lamp and groaned as she looked down at the pages of her spiral notebook. She then directed them back to the oversized textbook that lay beside her notes. Under her breath, she mumbled the black marks that were printed on the polished pages of the book, not comprehending a word of it. She pounded a few keys on the third item of the desk and erased, and typed, and erasing yet again. Her lids fell for a prolonged moment. They fluttered open again and she reread the notes, looking for the symbolism she was failing to grasp. She groaned, louder this second time, forgetting the conscientiousness she was practicing while trying not to wake her roommates. The silence surrounding her and the whirring of the fridge, had become a part of the ambiance, an adaptation that had taken her three English papers to get used to. 

"Roxie?" She jumped at the unfamiliar sound of a muddled voice calling her name. Her head whipped around causing strands of her hair to sting the sides of her face. She breathed a sigh of relief when she eyed Miles approaching her from the shadow of his doorway. He yawned and contagiously, so did she. "What are you doing up?" His voice was slurred and grungy but she managed to make out what he said as he pulled up a chair by her side. She propped her head in a hand, her elbow supporting it. "Fin-trying to finish my paper." He looked down at the textbook and over to her notes and shook his head. "English?" He asked her doubtfully and watched as she nodded. "You can raise your grades in the other classes, Rox. There's no use in trying with him. We both told Sabrina that when she tried and without her aunt she bombed." She shifted her head from side to the side, looking at his illuminated features. "I know that Miles, but if I don't get at least a B on this paper I might not be having any other classes." He creased his temples at her. "What do you mean?" Her arm fell from the desk and she turned her body to him. "I mean exactly what I said. Because of him, I've had to pull up As in every other class all year. I can't do it anymore Miles and I don't have the money to be here. Right now I'm averaging a B minus with his D and I need at least a B plus on this paper or I'm out." 

"Well, what about bowling or some other easy class?" 

"I'm only allowed to have one and I appreciate you showing me how to bowl and all, but even with the current A+ I've been sporting in that class, English is dragging my ass in the dirt." She noted the sympathetic look he shot at her and turned away from him, directing her eyes down at the books in front of her. She exhaled deeply and propped her head in her hands, crooning loudly. She let her hands fall again and shook her head at the books. "This... makes no sense. This book and these words jut don't go together." 

"Exactly. Did you think that there was no logic to Carlin's C averages?" She faced him, glaring so icily he looked away from her. 

"Go to bed Roxie." 

"Miles, was there some little show tune playing in your head while I was explaining my situation?"

"Go to bed Rox." She yawned, only continuing to prove his point. He sighed in defeat, rolled his eyes and walked to his room when she began tapping at the laptop keys, looking back and forth at the text and the notebook.

She tapped her fingers against her desk, casually biting the inside of her lip to hide her nervousness. 

"So, how'd you think you did on the paper?" She turned to Sabrina who sat at the desk beside her. 

"About as good as Carlin did interpreting Walt Whitman in class yesterday." Sabrina smiled to herself. "I don't think I'll ever forget the time when someone actually gave an opinion to Professor Carlin that didn't match the one he wrote in big letters on the board."

"Hence the reason I failed the paper and will be pulling in an infamous C this semester." 

"Come one Roxie, I'm sure you didn't do all that bad." Sabrina piped with her usual optimism. Roxy was about to retort when Carlin announced that the papers were being passed down. She sat up from the slouching position and eyed her paper in the hand of the person in front of her. She took the pile and looked perplexed at her paper as she passed the rest back. There was a shriek of that usual bell and Carlin's words concerning homework were muffled over voices of relief and others of groans. 

"What'd you get?" Sabrina looked over at Roxy who continued with her look of confusion. "Uh..." She was cut off at the sound of Carlin saying something slightly more articulate. "Ms. King, I'd like to speak to you." 

Sabrina matched her confused look and Sabrina rose from her seat, while mouthing "I'll wait for you outside," before leaving. She slowly approached the coat rack with the tie, holding up her paper. "There's no grade on my paper." He turned his back to her and gathered the papers on his desk. "I know there's no grade on your paper." In a slightly distracted tone he asked her to help clean eraser the board. She eyed him oddly at took the eraser in hand, erasing the colossal blackboard. She heard his voice sound from behind her. "Oh, could you also wash it? I like to leave it clean at the end of the day." When she would normally shoot back something, she picked up the small bucket in the corner and hauled it to the bathroom, returning with a sodden sponge and a container filled to the top. She wrung out the absorbent woven material and took it to the dark background. In the midst of ruffling papers echoing through her ears, she slammed the wet sponge down on the rim of the board, whirling around to face him. "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, cleaning chalkboards?" His eyes shifted, looking up at her calmly as he took another set of papers from his desk, placing them in his briefcase. He snapped the clasps closed and stood to his full height, walking around the desk towards the blackboard.

"I'm telling you now that you didn't do that terribly. This was a B minus paper and I'm aware of your situation so I was thinking that there might be a way to raise your grade." Her eyes brightened, and her ears perked up. She spoke, exhilarated, "I'm always up for extra credit. Whatever it is I'll do it. " He smiled a smile barely visible and placed a hand on her cheek. One that gave her chills she tried to suppress. Before he could let out a sound through his open mouth, with a fist, his hand was slapped off. She stepped back and glowered frigidly at him. "I'm not going to be your little love whore that makes you feel youthful again." His voice was filled with a firm anger, opposed to the calm tone he'd held originally. "For this paper, I'd only be giving you the B+. Don't want to raise suspicion after all." He noticed her remaining indifference. "It's too late in the game to drop my class Roxie. What are your intentions... to transfer? Hold out for another full scholarship? What are they going to say when you tell them why you left here? Do you really think they'll accept you after you tell them that you couldn't handle the work?" Her frigid glare had cowered slightly and she turned from him, took the backpack that sat beside her seat and stopped at the door when his voice toned again, with its calm disposition. "It's an easy A, Roxie. You need this. Don't pass this up." She began walking out the oak-framed door and turned the corner. 

"Hey," she continued walking at the sound of the familiar voice. "Hey Miles." 

"So Sabrina and I are still waiting for an answer." Three of them walked instep now as they made their way down the hall. She took a breath for a second and smiled almost reluctantly at them. "I got a B plus!" 


	2. Truth Spill

Sabrina: Teacher's Pet

Title: Teacher's Pet 

Chapter 2: Truth Spill

Author: [Moxie][1]

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story are mine. I am left my little fantasies of what would happen to these characters.

Summary: Another predictable story. She's busting her ass but Roxie's still in danger of losing her scholarship. She can't afford it and is offered an opportunity to raise her grade in the class that's threatening her education. The title says it all really. R&R

Author's Note: I don't intend on this being a drawn out story, unless something strikes me, but it'll probably be about 3 or 4 chapters, possibly less. Also, I know nothing about the crap they give you in college. I've got about 5 years till I end up with parties, pulling all-nighters and keggers, so if you have any complaints about me doing or saying something incorrectly, just e-mail me. 

Category: Sabrina the Teenage Witch- PG-13

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His class filed into their seats and they began with their noise like immature high school students. He cleared his throat several times until he had their full attention and began his lecture. He undid the latches on his briefcase and held in hands a paperback book. "Well, I trust at some point between your keg parties and counting how many brain cells you possibly have left, you did last night's homework." He leaned back on the desk as he had before and ran his thumb along the ends of book, causing the pages to flip. "Can anyone tell me what the symbolism of this book is?" He waited a while, raising his eyebrows at the dark hair girl in the middle row. She poked her tongue to the side of her mouth and reluctantly raised her hand. "Ms. King." 

"I think the symbolism of 'Madam Bovary' is of the prejudice of woman in the 1800s. How people were disgustingly closed minded to the fact they had problems and were denied in admittance." 

"Well, Ms. King, you've managed to turn Flaubert's tale of injustice into a tale of melodramatic episode of an AA meeting." There was the usual laughter at the undermining and Roxie interjected. "You don't have to belittle me just because I don't share your misinterpreted version of a novel." 

"I'm not undermining you, Ms. King, I'm just clearly stating that you, yourself have misinterpreted the meaning of the novel and I suggest that you reread it." She was beginning to feel indignant and backed down from the situation. He noted her silence and went on with his class.

During the end of his daily denigration, she approached him as he did his daily routine of gathering papers that Roxie had begun to think were completely blank all together. "What are you doing?" He looked up at her in that calm "after class" disposition. "What are you talking about?" 

"I don't know, I just thought that if you were going to make me look like an idiot in front of the whole class you would've used a more complex vocabulary." He looked on at her, slightly amused. He'd always figured that when she normally put up a fight she wouldn't end up whining about it, but she usually won with some witty comment. "Maybe this arrangement has more benefits than I was aware of." She was silent and bit her tongue, never letting her glare falter. "Nine o'clock." 

"What?" 

"Here." He took a card from his briefcase and handed it to her. She looked down at the plastic in her hands, "Ooh, laminated."

"Just be a good girl and don't set it on fire." 

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"Well Rox, it's the end of the week. Time to pig out and watch 'Gilligan's Island'." She plopped down on the couch and when she failed to get an answer looked back over her shoulder. "Where're you going?" She looked up as she looped the scarf around her neck. "Out. I'll be back later. We'll just have to watch Gilligan later." The disappointed blond approached her. "But Roxie, Gilligan's tradition."

"Well, all traditions are meant must be broken at one point or another. Goodbye Sabrina."

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She held the card in her hands and looked the card over as she advanced towards the grand oak door. She knocked a tightened fist on the door and waited for an answer. A knock came echoed again a few moments later and Carlin appeared in the frame. "You know, you're supposed to use a knocker." 

"Yeah well, anything that requires more muscle strain than necessary, I'm really not all that into." She walked passed him, allowing herself into the house. "People with manners usually wait to be invited." She eyed the living room before turning to face him. The lights were lit at the perfect amount, not too bright, but a notch above dim. From her standing point there was a partition that separated the classy living room and the equally elegant dining room with the mahogany table and hanging chandelier. "Yeah well, people with manners aren't usually ones to cheat either." She responded absently as she eyed the brightened cream color of his home. He brushed off the comment and noticed the amused eyebrow she rose. "You find something amusing?" 

"God, you wear those damn suits everywhere, don't you?"

"It's professional." She nodded. "Right." She walked into the living room and ran her thumb along the set of CDs behind the glass of the stereo system. She was suddenly aware of the soft sonata that hummed through the speakers. "Amazed?" She looked over her shoulder towards him. "Well, if I were normal impressed by Bach I'm sure I would be." He approached her and she stopped the fingering of the CDs, more or less freezing at the cool touch of his fingers against her neck. She breathed shakily at the feel of his whisper against the lobe of her ear. "I thought you came here to earn your grade." She slowly rose with the side of his thumb brushing along the back of her neck, the dark strands resting on his hands. She swallowed inaudibly to remove the lump in her throat and she heard him snicker, loosening the moment. She turned to him looking almost offended. "What?" 

"I thought you were apprehensive because I was your teacher, I never pegged you for the virgin kind." 

"Yeah, well herpes has a tendency to turn some people off." He chuckled a little as she regained her nerved Roxie persona. He bent his head down and whispered in her ear in his almost inaudible tone. "Don't lose that sense of humor, Roxie." His lips fell in contact with her neck and his hands, her arm. He ran them down along her material of her sleeve and over to the rim of her coat where the zipper had held the two parts together. He undid the zipper with one hand and brought it back up again to roam down along her breasts. He felt her swallow hard and looked down at her forgotten hands, watching her press her palms back against the glass cabinet, knowing that what she'd agreed to for a B plus was only now, just hitting her. 

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"I can't believe Roxie ditched me." She complained as she sat back on the couch. "Well, at least you've got me! You can help me figure out with county they'll show up in. I think there's a pattern."

"Oh joy." She crossed her arms and looked back at the boy lugging the satellite. "Miles, you're not helping." 

"Is an outdated show more exciting than the discovery of a new species." She stared at him blankly. He got the message. She turned her attention back around to Mary Anne and started pouting, glancing back and forth from the clock to television, waiting for Roxie's return. 

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She brought the glass of water to her lips, being cautious as not to bump into anything in the unlit house. She left on the dim light of the kitchen but forgot her cautiousness when she heard the turning of the lock and cursed at the throbbing of her toe when it collided with the sofa. She whipped around and was relieved when the door was unlocked from the other side and Roxie appeared with her back turned, in front of the door. "Well, well…." She smiled as the girl jumped to the sound of her voice. "Just getting home? Shouldn't you be in bed?" She heard the clearing of Roxie's throat before she spat out, "Shouldn't you be under a freshman?"

"Touchy." She watched the girl quickly turn and walk by her, her tresses concealing the sides of her face. "So where were you?" 

"Out." She began her journey to the upstairs bathroom and Morgan followed behind.

"It's one o' clock in the morning." 

"I'm amazed at your ability to tell time." 

"Hey!" The offended red head grabbed her arm, spinning her around, her hair sweeping across her face. Before the roommate could react, the other raised a surprised brow. "And I thought demons didn't have feelings." The other felt free to release the sniffle that she had held in and spun back around, slamming the bathroom door behind her. The redhead was left looking concerned only for a moment. A moment that ended when the brunette emerged from the bathroom looking tear free, but glaring all the same and walked by her, telling her, "Fuck off, Princess." 

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"Morgan, if there was something wrong she'd tell us." The nonchalant blond placed the tray on the counter and turned to face the red head, rubbing her hands on the burgundy apron. "You think Elvira tells you everything?" She took another bite of the strudel in her hand and continued. "She's probably the member of a Goth cult. I bet she has a record and now someone's after her," she said surely and ignored the strange look Sabrina gave her. "I know Roxie tells me everything, and she'll tell me what's wrong 'cause here she comes now." Morgan turned to the door to see Roxie stepping inside with her usual morning expression of unconcern and lethargy. She walked over to the counter next to Sabrina and propped her elbows on the surface ordering her flavor of coffee. "Hey Roxie." She turned to the girl. "Hey Sabrina." 

"Morgan has this crazy idea that there's something wrong with you and I told her that if there was something wrong you'd tell me 'cause we're friends and friends tell friends the truth. So Roxie-" The mortal she was addressing was obviously bored and cut her off.

"Sabrina, you're babbling."

"Right. Well, is something wrong?" She girl quickly raised and released her eyebrows and shrugged. "Nope." She turned to look at over the counter at the worker making her cappuccino and then back to Sabrina who was facing Morgan. "See." 

"Is that all, cause in case your forgetting, Spellman, we've got a class in fifteen minutes." Sabrina nodded quickly and she clicked the button on the CD player latched to her that went unnoticed and indifferent by the two previously and set the earphones over her ears. Before Morgan could question her, she walked over to the couch. The redhead fumed and turned back to Sabrina look sure of herself. "She was crying." Sabrina's expression was one of doubt. "What?"

"She was crying. Actual tears were flowing out of the Psycho Bitch's eyes." Sabrina looked hard at Morgan and asked her in disbelief. "Roxie was…crying?" Morgan nodded. 

"Then how does that fit in with your cult theory?" 

"Well… it doesn't, but it's obvious she's been to jail. No one gets like that all on their own." Sabrina bit back her comment and she next words to Morgan were confirmed by Hilda's announcement that her break was over. She called back and went behind the counter, turned her back to the customers and said aloud. "To discover the source of Roxie's tears help her be open to me about her fears." She looked over her shoulder and pointed her finger at Roxie who sat with a textbook in her lap, nodding slightly every so often. She took the drink that had been set on the counter and walked over to her dark hair roommate. "Here you go Rox." She handed the girl that cappuccino and she gratefully took a sip, bringing the headphones from her ears. The witch plopped down beside her just as she was about to rise from the sofa and was forced to sit again. "So, Roxie, anything you've been meaning to tell me?" Sabrina watched as she opened her mouth to deny and then closed it before trying again. "Actually, I've never told anyone this, but ever since I was little I've had a fear of heights. It all started when I was five and I went to my Aunt Vikki's farm in Saratoga-"

"I meant anything…_recently_." 

"I've had this fear of getting kicked out of college." Sabrina looked at the girl as she spoke in the mechanical tone that meant her spell had begun working. 

"Kicked out of college?"

"So I tried to make sure that doesn't happen."

"What do you mean?" 

"I was close to failing Carlin's class-" 

"Sabrina!" Her eyes that had been staring intently at Roxie, waiting for her to continue, jerked back to Josh who was calling for her help. She sighed and stood up telling Roxie that she'd be right back before going to the counter. A few minutes later she looked over her shoulder from the orders and exhaled, frustrated when she found that Roxie was no longer at the table.

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They stood in the line waiting for the previous person in front to receive their grades. "Okay, remember, your grade does not rest entirely on Sylvia Plath," Sabrina said in an attempt to reassure. 

"Of course not, just our future jobs-"

"And our success later on for the rest of our life." She looked on at her sarcastic friends and smiled. "That's the spirit." She took her paper and smiled to herself, leaving the room in the fashion they were all told to. Miles received his own and grinned. "I see that hat from the convention paid off." Carlin returned his smile as Miles waved his paper. Conveniently last in line, Roxie received her paper and looked down at the grade in red ink. "A minus?" He grinned at her. "You earned it." 

"When you say I earned it-" 

"I mean you earned it." He jumped for his seat on the stool. "Look, Roxie, you did a great job on this paper. You identified characteristics, personality traits, and metaphors, that none of my other students even glanced at." 

"So this A minus across the page has nothing to do with the fact that I humped you to get a good grade?" 

"Ooh, Roxie, why so bitter today? If you must know, 'no', this was…more of an academic earning than a physical one." He smiled at her and she felt her chills returning at the expression he saved for her. He exhaled at her indifference and tried shrugging it off. He did his usual routine of closing the latches of his briefcase. "So, I take it you're not coming over tonight." 

"That's one assumption." 

"We can make this work." 

"What's there to work out? I'm a sleazy little whore who was looking for a good grade. I got the grade, Professor Carlin. There's not much more to work out." 

"Don't test the waters, Roxie. You _did_ earn that grade on your own, that much I can tell you, but a teacher is sometimes easily influenced by the hostility a student shows towards him when his only grading tool are his feelings and intellect." 

   [1]: mailto:Utopian6ir12@aol.com



	3. Obvious

Title: Teacher's Pet 

Chapter 3: Obvious

Author: Moxie

Disclaimer: None of the characters in this story are mine. I am left my little fantasies of what would happen to these characters.

Summary: Another predictable story. She's busting her ass but Roxie's still in danger of losing her scholarship. She can't afford it and is offered an opportunity to raise her grade in the class that's threatening her education. The title says it all really. R&R

Author's Note: I don't intend on this being a drawn out story, unless something strikes me, but it'll probably be about 3 or 4 chapters, possibly less. Also, I know nothing about the crap they give you in college. I've got about 5 years till I end up with parties, pulling all-nighters and keggers, so if you have any complaints about me doing or saying something incorrectly, just e-mail me. 

Category: Sabrina the Teenage Witch- PG-13

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Sabrina sat the desk in her bedroom tapping the same key on her keyboard, repetitively. She had been so close to getting Roxie to tell her whatever it was that had been bothering her. What did she mean 'kicked out of college'? What did she do? Just then the slam of a door interrupted the questions that grew repetitive in her mind. Her eyes shot up to the screen in front of her and she realized that a list of blank space from the spacebar had been on the screen following her name. 

She got up from the seat and left the room. Miles plopped himself down on the sofa in the living room and clicked on the television tuning it to the discovery channel. She sat beside him on the sofa. "Hey Miles." 

"Oh hey Sabrina. Isn't the nature of the hummingbird just fascinating?"

"Yeah Miles…fascinating." She grabbed the remote and hit the off button. An offended Miles turned to her. 

"Sabrina!" 

"Okay-wait, before you get upset, I had a reason!"

"You better have! The mating ritual of the hummingbirds are one of the most incredible-"

"God…you do need a girlfriend." He shut up just then and the blond go on.

"Do you know what's going on with Roxie?" 

"Well…uh, she was having trouble in Carlin's class-" 

"Did she tell you anything else? Like how she pulled her grade up?"

"She pulled her grade up? That's great!"

"No, that's not great Miles!" Miles gave a questioning look and Sabrina sighed, not wanting to repeat the story when he couldn't give her the answers she wanted. "Morgan said that she Roxie come home a couple nights ago and was crying," Miles looked shocked as if an alien had just walked up to him and asked him to watch Gilligan. "When I asked her about it, she said that she did something to make sure she wouldn't get thrown out. Unfortunately, I didn't get to find out what that was." 

"And you want to know what." 

"Yes."

"Sorry, Sabrina." Sabrina sighed at the great amount of help Miles offered and turned back on the ritual for Miles to speculate. 

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It was another controversial class and though everyone had originally raised eyebrows at Roxie's backing down, it had become student nature to push doubt to the back of their minds and forget the past promise of seeing the War is Raw pre-show by the podium. The routine continued and she waited for the class to file out. Not even Sabrina announced that she would be waiting for her friend in the lounge anymore, but went on as a victim of the routine.

Carlin walked to the door, pulled down the shades nonchalantly and did his business at the door while Roxie gathered her books, packing them in the Timberland book bag. She looked up at him towering over her and rose her eyes to meet his usual dark dress pants, white shirt and neatly set tie, all of which led to the familiar dark glaze of his eyes. He smiled at her with that cocky grin of admiration that lingered on his lips. "Nice discussion on Catholicism in literature, Ms. Bovary." 

"I could've done better." She answered apathetically, completely aware of his next phrase, with no fear in her own voice and without fear of what the phrase would lead to. She lived with the comfort that she no longer cared. Then he said the phrase, "I'd like you to make up for it….", and she simply let her lids fall. 

Miles sat in the lounge chair beside Sabrina with a textbook sprawled across his legs. Realizing that he had forgotten his notes in Carlin's class, he was suddenly awoke to Sabrina's rambles that he had thought he'd zoned out. 

"And if she was going to get kicked out, why didn't she tell me?"

"Sabrina-" She turned to him, "You would've told me, right, Miles?" 

"Yes Sabrina, but-"

"What did she do? Why don't I know?"

Miles rolled his eyes and made his way back to the room for his commentaries.

He knocked on the wooden door and attempted to look through the veil of the upper window. He knocked on the door. "Uh… Professor Carlin? I forgot my notes." He turned the knob of the door and it made a small clicking sound as if the lock had come loose at the turn. He pushed the door open and after his eyes widened a little, he quickly closed it back, pressing his back against it. "Oh my god."

On the other side of the polished oak, Carlin stood at his desk, tightening his tie and replacing the two loose top buttons of his dress shirt in the small oval holes. Roxie stood on the other side of the professor's desk and brushed her palm against her shirt, smoothing it down. She could just imagine what Miles must have been thinking of her right now. 

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He groaned loudly enough for it to register to her that he was annoyed, or at any rate bored. She turned to him with that look that he loathed. That looked that he was sick of and told them she was uncomfortable and loathed him just as much as he hated the look. He propped himself up on an elbow. "Listen, Roxie…this doesn't have to change anything between us. Just because some little sophomore twit saw us in a classroom together. He closed the door so fast, I don't even think he knows what he saw." 

"That sophomore twit's my friend!"

"Oh, come on, Roxie, let's no get aegis now."

"Oh come on, Arthur, let's not commit statutory rape now."

He sighed and let himself fall from his elbow and against the pillow. She got up from her seat on the bed and reached for the baggy army pants on the floor. Suddenly she whipped around and questioned him. "What would you do if anyone every found out about us?" 

He propped up again with less self-assurance and amusement and shrugged just slightly. "I don't know what I'd do, Roxie. I've never gotten caught."

She smirked acridly and continued to pull on the army pants and the sheer black shirt. She headed out of the room, gathering her stuff along the way and he shouted while unmoving in bed. "Don't do anything stupid, Roxie! It might ruin your animal magnetism in bed!" The roar of the door was heard in the apartment as she left him to smile, plotting as the wheels turned.

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I couldn't think of a way to start the 3rd chapter or of a way to leak the secret, hence the title "Obvious".


	4. Chapter 4

i rediscovered fanfiction last night and said, "hey," why not finish this?

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Roxie paced her porch trying to comprehend the mess she had gotten herself into. It was all so incredible.

"_You don't even know how beautiful you are," he uttered into her chest. She couldn't respond. She was too frozen with shock and uncertainty as he undid her blouse. "Jeez...Roxie," he said, meeting her eyes. "This is all to please you." Suddenly animated, she looked at him in disbelief. "What?" _

_"I could have given you the B, but I decided that I couldn't do that. I had to give you a break. Now we're here, and you won't even appreciate what I'm doing for you."_

_"You have a twisted sense of right and wrong, Carlin."_

_"So what can be said for you?" That exposed the regret in Roxie's face. He placed a finger on her lip. "Don't you find me even remotely attractie, Roxie? Just relax."_

Sitting on the steps of her porch, she scoffed. "Just relax?"

"Rox, what are you doing out her?" Roxie swung around to the door and saw her best friend in the archway. "Oh, hey Sabrina. I...uh, I...forgot my keys and I was debating whether or not I should ring the bell and wake up the whole house."

"Oh. You're lucky I'm up then, huh?" The two went inside the little house.

"Well, goodnight, Sabrina!" Roxie ran halfway to her room before Sabrina grabbed her arm. "Hey, Roxie, if there was something wrong, you'd tell me, right?"

"Yeah...of course, Sabrina. Goodnight." She closed the door and left her housemate doubtful in the corridor.

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"So between kegs, just ponder over the effects of Gatsby's disillusionment with society. We'll pick up there tomorrow." Carlin kept his eye on Roxie as the class exited. She avoided his gaze and turned out of her desk as he approached her.

"Miss K-"

Professor Carlin, can I speak to you?" Miles interrupted. Roxie paused at the end of the row to see the look of confusion on Professor Carlin's face and catch a flicker of fear before she left the room.

"Ah... Mr. Goodman, how may I help you?"

Miles nervously fidgeted with the straps of his bag and kept his soft-spoken voice to a whisper. "I wanted to talk to you about Roxie."

"Uh, what about her?"

"You can get fired, sir," Miles said flatly.

Carlin pulled up the bud of his tie and snapped the latches of his briefcase. "What are you talking about?"

"I...I know... I know that you're taking advantage of Roxie's position... sir, and you can get fired."

Carlin placed both hands on his briefcase and focused on Miles. "And just what am I doing?"

Miles could feel himself faltering. "You're...sleeping with her." He saw a flash of doubt on Carlin's aggressive expression and felt his stomach twist at the truth of it.

"Why would you think that? I'm a professional, son."

"Sir... sir..." Miles ran ahand through his hair. "I saw you kissing her," he whispered.

"Does that mean I'm sleeping with her?" Asked Carlin in a level voice.

"Isn't it wrong either way, sir?"

Carlin took a breath and put less pressure on the briefcase. "Miles, not to be trite, but you play with fire and you get burned."

"Roxie is my friend and I won't see you take advantage of her or anyone else."

"You have no proof, Miles, and I have tenure. Besides, Roxie is not going to throw everything away for your peace of mind. Have a nice day, Mr. Goodman."

When Carlin exited the room, Roxie came inside. "Miles, what are you doing?"

"What you're not doing," he spat.

"Miles," she said, trying to remind him who he was talking to.

"Roxie, you can't do this. You shouldn't do this."

"Miles, it's not up to you! What would you do if you were "this" close to having to give up your education?"

"I would try to get a better job, or transfer, Roxie. You could even have gone to a community college or something and worked until you had enough money for something else. There were other options..."

"I couldn't give up everything I know."

"So this is better?"

Roxie stared hard at him. "Yeah."

"Roxie... how do you face him everyday? How do you face yourself?"

"I try not to, Miles. I'll see you at home."

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"Yay! You're back! The couch was getting really lonely, Rox!" Sabrina smiled as Roxie plopped down next to her in her pajamas.

"Yeah, well... I was getting pretty lonely without the couch."

As the Giligan traipsed around the island, Sabrina turned to Roxie. "Hey, uh... if you don't mind me asking, what have you been doing every Friday night?"

"Oh, well I've...kind of been seeing somone," Roxie settled. Sabrina's eyes lit up, "Really? Anyone I know? We should triple date!"

"Uh, no. Just some vacant frat boy. He broke my heart. It didn't work out."

"Oh, sorry to hear that, Rox." Sabrina pouted and turned back to the TV, where she couldn't help but smile.

After several TV Land showings, Roxie fell asleep on the arm of the couch. Sabrina tiptoed out of the living room and went to find the other roommates.

She called Morgan and Miles into her room and sat across from them. "Roxie's okay!"

"She told you?" Miles piped out.

"You knew?" Sabrina and Morgan said in unison.

"Well... I just found out."

"Why didn't you tell us that Roxie had a boyfriend?" Sabrina pounced.

"Roxie had a boyfriend?" Morgan squeled.

"But he broke her heart. But now we can relax!" Sabrina beemed.

A confused Miles stayed silent wondering if any of this meant anything for reality.

"What are you guys doing?" A groggy Roxie asked in the doorway.

"Oh, nothing!" Sabrina chimed.

Roxie furrowed her brows. "O-kay..." and walked to her room.

She sat on her bed and threw her head in her hands. She needed to end this thing was Carlin, but what would happen? "I should never have done this," she whispered.

_"You said you've done this before," Roxie started, holding a tangle of sheets against her body._

_"Oh don't talk about it like an 'experiment.' Yes, Roxie, I have been known to make love to younger women."_

_"Oh, is that all this is?" _

_"Why don't you "make love" to women your own age?"_

_"I do, but every once in a while, I have a student, a little nymphet, who needs to be taught about the reality of life. Have I taught you anything, Roxie?"_

Taps at her door threw her out of her thoughts. "Hey...can I come in?" Miles asked from the other side of her door.

"Actually, I'm going to bed now." She said, retreating beneath her sheets.

"Just for a minute, Roxie...please?"

She groaned and answered the door.

"Yes?"

Miles walked into the room and pushed the door closed. "I'm going to tell the Dean."

"What? Miles you can't do that!"

"Roxie, I didn't do it to you! He did!" he yelled in a whisper.

"Oh real nice, Miles. When the Dean finds out, she will _expell _me, and what school wants to take in the whore who's slept with her professor for grades?"

"Roxie, you're not a whore. She'll see that. Carlin will be the only one who suffers."

"God, Miles! What kind of idealist crap is that? Carlin will get off just fine and I will be the crazy girl committed for wild accusations! You can't tell the Dean."

They stood in the center of the room in silence.

Miles sighed and sat down on the bed. "Why won't you break it off?" Miles stared at her intently. "He won't let me, Miles," she answered, sitting on the other end.

"But you haven't even tried," Miles accused.

"How do you know that?"

"Because you look terrified of him now, Roxie. You never used to be like that. The class used to be this literary sparring match. You're so silent, so afraid of him. Why are you so afraid of him?"

Roxie could feel her throat caving in as she considered the question. She answered inaudibly, keeping the response for herself. "What?" Miles asked, leaning in closer. "He was the first," she said a little louder.

"What?" he asked her incredulously.

"I'd never been with anyone else before him..."

"He...made you... even though he knew? Ugh... but he's blackmailing you!"

"Miles... he knows me in a way that no one else does. When I'm around him, I feel so... exposed, like I'm teetering on an edge that only he can push me off of."

"But that doesn't mean that he can," he gently uttered.

"I know that it sounds ridiculous, Miles, but if you went ahead and told the Dean, I couldn't find it in me to defend myself."

They sat in an awkward silence for some time, avoiding one another's eyes.

Suddenly, Miles blurted, "Why were you home tonight?"

Roxie chuckled, "This just gets more and more uncomfortable, doesn't it?" Miles held a piercing look. "He's... on a date."

"What?" he hissed.

"He's on a date... with Zelda."

Miles arose from the bed in an instant. "Roxie, what the hell?"

"Miles, calm down."

"You should tell Sabrina!"

"What's that going to do?"

"Break it off, Roxie... break it off. Whatever happens happens, but you can't go on like this. You're his sex slave!"

"And so what if I am?" They were both standing now, "What are my alternatives?"

"Me! I'm your alternative!"

"What?"

Miles let his lids fall and whispered, "Break it off," before leaving the room.

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	5. Chapter 5

"Roxie, what are you doing here?" A dissheveled Carlin asked.

"I can't do this anymore," she said, her almond eyes piercing him.

He sighed. "Roxie, not now. It's 2:30 in the morning," he whispered.

"Please, just end it. Do what you want: fail me, have my expelled. I don't care."

He moved her into the apartment by her shoulders. "You're talking crazy. Let's sit down."

"Don't do that. Don't try to mollify me."

"Roxie, you don't know what you're saying. You're taking a very big risk here- one that will not end well for you."

"But it always ends divinely for you, Arthur! What happens to your other "nymphets?"

"Keep your voice down!" he hissed.

"Oh, is someone else here? Is Zelda here?" she screamed, walking to the bedroom.

Carlin grabbed her by the arm and pressed her against the wall. "I don't know what's gotten into you, but it's got to stop. If you do this, you're going to be the only one who gets hurt," he whispered. "Is it that kid? Did he talk you into this? Roxie... he cant do anything for you." He placed a hand on her knee and drove it forward.

"Arthur... what are you doing?" Zelda's voice questioned from the hall. Carlin sucked in the slice of air that separated him from Roxie and moved back, terrified.

Zelda didn't wait for an explanation, but commanded that Carlin get her things. "Roxie, let's go."

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"Roxie... what were you thinking?" Zelda asked in the Spellman kitchen.

"Ms. Spellman, I was...I was terrified, you know? I didn't want to get kicked out of John Addams. It seemed like a viable option."

"God, Roxie..."

"I know... Ms. Spellman. I know, but what can I do now?"

Zelda scoffed. "You can get that brute fired! I'll help you."

"Just don't tell Sabrina."

"I don't think I can stop her from finding out."

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The trial was the pinnacle of the highly publicized accusation. The campus roared as past conquests came forward to testify against Carlin and Zelda pledged her bi-realmed word. Two days, Carlin was fired.

"So what now?" Carlin looked up from packing to see Roxie sweeping her finger along her desk. He chuckled. "Well, you keep going to John Addams on sponserships and I find someone rich and retire."

"So it works out for both of us," she smiled.

Carlin sealed a cardboard box and faced her. He opened his mouth as if to say one thing, reshaped it, and said "If you ever want to find me." He handed her a card with his name and number scribbled on its back.

She looked at him in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Just because I lost my job, doesn't mean I'm not the same person."

"Good to know," she mumbled and left the card on the desk of his old classroom.

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"Miles."

"Roxie," Miles said in surprise. He removed the maps and notebooks sprawled across his bed and sat up. "I haven't seen much of you lately."

She sat beside him. "Yeah, well. I've been busy."

He chuckled. "I know."

They played with their hands in a bout of silence. "Thank you," she said, breaking it.

"You didn't need me."

"Yeah... I really did." Miles smiled at her and bit his tongue so as not to mention the last time they were together.

"Miles..." she whispered.

"Roxie..."

She moved close to him, lightly kissed his neck, and rested her head against his chin. "I really enjoy this alternative."


End file.
